Blowing Away the Cobwebs: SB3’s in Singapore. January 16th

With everyone back from their Christmas holidays, the Singapore SB3 Fleet held its first Sunday Racing session on January 16th. With a new committee, and some boats changing hands over the Christmas break, the fleet started the new year with great enthusiasm. With the 2010, Wallace Cuthbertson (Glasgow Kiss) winner having broken his right hand surfing (well that was his story…..) and Chris Holmes (Bandit) volunteering to run the races, the six boats that turned out were greeted with a fantastic 12-16knots.


The first race was held, and the rustiness of the fleet showed, with only Bill on Katana being close to the start line at speed, who promptly led away from the start and never relinquished that position for the rest of the race. Jono sailing Scumbag was also fast out of the blocks, and sailing 2 up scored a creditable second. The remaining placing were decided at the first spinnaker drop, where some of the intricacies of the kite drop appeared to have been forgotten over the long holiday, with a couple of helms, heard explaining to their crews, how the maneuver should be completed! Third place went to Marcus on Red Gum. Mention must go to Robin on Pyxis, who on the leeward mark rounding managed to tangle the buoy, dragging the mark some distance, and earning the Race Committees ‘Muppet of the Day’ award.


The second race was got away soon after the last boat finished, with the start being much more tightly contested, a great example of why we race one-designs was viewed in the Singapore Malaysia channel, with boats swapping positions all the way to the windward mark. At the leeward mark Scumbag had established a good lead, followed by Red Gum and Hullabaloo. At the finish, Scumbag had established a large lead, with the second, third and fourth place boats all finishing within a boat length of each other – a true photo finish (if only the race committee had bought a camera…..). The final reckoning saw Scumbag 1st, Audie, the new owner of Hullaballoo and out for the first time, second, followed by Red Gum.

With all the crews seeming to enjoy themselves, the race committee got a third race underway, with the first leg sailed in the strongest wind of the day. The first kite leg, was fantastic, with all the boats planning into the leeward mark, with the strong gust catching the unwary or the plane slow unawares, with a number of boats checking their keels! At the finish, Bill on Katana had a healthy lead, giving a great example of boat handling in the freshening conditions, with Hullaballoo coming in second and Scumbag finishing a very creditable third, despite being only 2 up.

Overall results saw the day goto Bill on Katana, after considering countback, as he was ties on points with Jono on Scumbag who finished second. Third place was again decided on count back with Hullabaloo pushing RedGum in fourth place.

By Chris Holmes